Fishing for Life's Meaning
by knowhere
Summary: Literati. The wonderful mix of innocence and life. Today, she learns one of life’s toughest lessons and they learn that it’s all worth it in the end. AU.


**Fishing for Life's Meaning**

Author: Knowhere

Rating: R

Disclaimer: Nothing.

**AN: **The fact that this story is still rated R just makes smile at the delicious dichotomy of writing a slice of life. I really liked the sweetness edged with a beautiful product of love.

In other news, if you would like to be notified of when my forum will be up and running, please email me so that I can add your email address to my list. Please don't PM me because of the glitches with email address and FFn. If you know to spell out your email address instead of just inserting, feel free to do so in a PM. If you don't know what I'm referring to, please just simply email me if you're interested in the forum. I already have two drabbles up and ready to go once the forum opens with another in the works.

Summary: Literati. The wonderful mix of innocence and life. Today, she learns one of life's toughest lessons and they learn that it's all worth it in the end. AU.

---

"Let's just get rid of this, shall we?" He smiled down with a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

She giggled. "Why do I even bother putting on pajamas?"

"Don't know. Why don't you just come to bed naked?" His sneaky fingers found their way up to her breast, shaping and teasing.

Her hands went to the waistband of his boxer briefs, laughing when she found them already tented. "Jeez, you're worse than a teenager."

"Hmm." Jess dipped down for a kiss, tongue peeking out to play with hers. As his hands found hers under the covers, he linked their fingers and brought them up above her head. Grinding his hips down onto hers, he rested his full weight on her, letting his wife feel his arousal. "You know, I was thinking we could—"

"Daddy!" Heavy knocking resonated throughout the bedroom.

"Ugh. It's six in the morning. How can she already be up?" He dropped his forehead to rest on Rory's. At the sight of her eyebrow raised high on her forehead, he glared down at her amused expression. "She's your daughter. It's like she has radar or something."

Rory laughed. "How come she's my daughter when she interrupts sex but she's your daughter when she almost gets into a fight with that older boy at daycare for stealing her snack?"

He chuckled. " 'Cause I taught her that right hook."

"Daddy! Please open!"

Rory bucked up into her husband. "Jess, answer her. She'll bang the door down if you don't."

He groaned at the feel of her. "I locked the door, don't worry. Besides, it's not like we're doing anything wrong. We haven't had sex in almost two weeks."

She rolled her eyes. "Poor baby."

"Give me fifteen minutes and I'll work on that baby." He smirked.

"Daddy, please. Please open." The sound of her little voice hiccupped through the door. "It's Charlie. He's being really, really still. He's not moving. Can you wake him up for me?"

Jess quickly flung off the covers and searched for his boxers. "Oh damn." Unlocking the door with fumbling fingers, he discovered his young daughter standing on the other side in her cupcake pajamas holding a large glass bowl. "Hey baby." He crouched down to her eye level and saw that the betta fish was floating on the surface.

She sniffed and shuffled her way into her dad's open arms. Water sloshed over the side and onto the floor but Jess just held onto his little girl, not paying attention to the mess. She rubbed her face against his bare chest. "Is he just sleeping, Daddy? Because it's time for cartoons. Mommy said I could have an extra hour of T.V. today. She promised me and Charlie. Mommy said we could even watch that animal show about the ocean."

Jess sat down and pulled her into his lap. The bowl still remained in her firm little grasp. Jess sighed. "Baby, Charlie has…"

Big blue eyes looked up. "What?"

Jess cuddled her closer and dropped a kiss on her head. "Charlie is gone now. I'm sorry."

"No, he's not. He's right here." She swished the water around in the bowl and looked down at the brightly colored fish.

Jess looked over his shoulder and appealed to Rory for help. "No, I mean that Charlie won't be swimming around anymore."

Rory slipped on Jess's discarded t-shirt and sat down on the floor next to her husband and daughter at the foot of the bed. She rubbed the little girl's back but her daughter only climbed onto Jess's lap, burrowing further into his arms. "Does that mean he doesn't want to watch T.V. with me today? 'Cause I don't have to watch. I can read him a story instead." Jess shot Rory a look of sadness at the sound of their daughter's innocent question.

Rory stroked her daughter's dark brown hair. "No, it doesn't mean that Charlie doesn't want to spend time with you. Daddy just meant that Charlie is dead. He's not going to move anymore. I'm so sorry honey."

"Like what happened to the class hamster?"

Jess nodded. "Yes, exactly like the class hamster."

She looked up at her dad. "So, no more Charlie?"

"No. I'm sorry, kiddo."

"Oh." She placed the bowl onto the wood floor and laid down to peer into the glass. "Bye Charlie, I'm going to miss you. You were my friend and I won't forget you."

Her parents watched her fog up the glass, her nose pressed up against the surface. Jess winced. "How about we go to the pet store to get another fish?"

She stood up and sniffled. "No thanks Daddy. It won't be Charlie."

"Baby, come here." She hesitated for a moment but then threw her small body into her father's open arms. "I'm really sorry." He kissed her forehead as Rory continued to rub her back. "You know that Charlie was happy, don't you? You were really good at feeding and cleaning his bowl."

She nodded into his shoulder. "Mommy made me that calendar."

"Right, and you were really good at following it. Charlie just died because it was time. You were a good friend to him."

Pulling back, her eyes were shiny with tears. "Really?" She laid her head back down and propped her chin on his shoulder.

"Yeah." He tucked her hair behind her ears. "He was a lucky fish to have you."

"Remember how the nature show said that sometimes, animals just go because it's their time?" Rory peered at her child.

"Nature's Mommy?"

"Yes, honey, Mother Nature."

"So Charlie is still happy?"

Jess nodded. "Yes, Charlie is happy."

"Well, I hope they have the right food for him wherever he is now. He only likes the red flakes, not the yellow ones."

"That's right."

Rory smiled gently. "Honey, do you want to bury Charlie?"

She considered it for a moment but then shook her head. "No, I already have lots of happy memories of Charlie. He's okay now." Climbing off of Jess's lap, she looked once more into the bowl and gave Rory a tight hug. She spoke over her mother's shoulder to the fish. "Bye Charlie." She walked out of the bedroom and Jess and Rory could hear the soft sound of her door closing.

"Well…" Rory sighed and glanced down at the fish.

"Yeah." Jess kissed the side of his wife's neck. "Fuck, that was harder than I thought. I will never survive her dating if I can barely make it through the death of her fish."

She smiled. "I think you did just fine." Picking up the bowl, she handed it to Jess. "What are we going to do with it?"

"Flush?" He shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess so."

He stood and went to their connected bathroom. When he was done, he dried his hands on the hand towel and sauntered back into the room. Flopping down on the bed with a heavy sigh, he covered his eyes with his hand. Rory closed the door and got on the bed next to him, laying her head down on his shoulder. She traced absentminded shapes on his chest and tangled their legs together. The sounds of the Care Bears soundtrack drifted into their bedroom. Rory rolled onto Jess's chest. "Guess she's feeling better."

"Yeah, at least that's her happy music." They both paused to listen to the music. Jess shifted and smiled up at Rory. "Love you."

Rory melted at the softly spoken vow. "Ditto."

His hands felt their way beneath the t-shirt and cupped her bottom. Offering her his best puppy face, he whispered, "Make me feel better?"

Rory giggled. "And how will I do that?"

He pretended to think about it. "I'm thinking…you, me, and lots of skin."

"Good idea." She massaged his lips with her own and wiggled her way out of the shirt.

"Now that's what I'm talking about." He grinned and wrestled off his boxers without moving her too much.

With a grin and one swift move, Rory inched her way down onto him and watched as Jess's eyes rolled to the back of his head. "That good huh?"

Setting a slow, luxurious pace, he held on with warm fingers at her hips. "Fuck yeah." He latched onto her breast and his tongue peeked out to flick against her nipple. "Right there, yeah…"

Rory whimpered as his searching fingers went between their bodies. "Jess, please…"

"Hold on, Ror. Almost..."

Persistent knocking once again resonated through the room. "Daddy, can we please go to the zoo today?"

Jess's eyes widened at the interruption and grunted at the feel of his wife gently nipping on his earlobe. "Give Daddy twenty minutes, baby."

"Okay." Tiny feet pattered away.

Rory lifted her head. "Twenty minutes?"

Jess grinned devilishly. "Yeah, if we make it quick, maybe we can do it again before our time is up." He punctuated the statement with a hard thrust and winked up at Rory as she held his head firm against her breast, encouraging him.

Rory snickered. "You know, ten minutes was all it took to make our first kid. You shooting for another?"

Without disconnecting, he rolled her onto her back and gazed down lovingly. "If they're just like her, I'd want a dozen."

She moaned as he retreated once again. "Dozen?"

"Okay, maybe not. But I wouldn't be opposed to one more." He entered with utter tenderness and smiled when her skin flushed with pleasure.

"Hmm." Words faded, as bodies took over, the movements unbounded by time and space, the communion of their love shown in the physical sense.

He shuddered his release and kissed her wetly. "Love you."

Rory smiled and opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by another round of knocking. "Daddy, hurry!"

Jess groaned. "Baby, the zoo doesn't open until nine. It's too early."

Her small voice drifted through the door. "Breakfast? Sammy's diner?"

Jess glared at the woman by his side. "Food. That's all she thinks about. She's definitely your daughter."

Rory smiled. "We'll be right out, honey. Go put on your sweatshirt. And don't forget your scarf."

"Okay Mommy!"

Jess whined playfully as Rory tried to pull him out of bed. "Promise me we'll do this again tonight."

Rory smiled and looked over her naked shoulder, giving Jess a sultry look. "We still have time for a shower…"

"Ooh." Jess bounced off the bed and quickly corralled his wife into the brightly lit bathroom. Rory's laugh echoed off the tiles.

---

**AN:** Please read and review. And also let me know if you're interested in the forum. Thanks!

If you're wondering, yes, this is the little girl that makes an appearance in When I Found Out and When I First Saw. Some may notice that in the first story, I didn't give their daughter a name. Here, I continue down that same path. This was written with the same daughter in mind.


End file.
